NH mountains enjoying a lot of new snow as year comes to close

Sledders excited about upcoming season

Sledders took to the fresh snow at Gilford's town recreation department sledding hill of Route 11B Friday following a Nor'easter that dumped about a foot in the area.

SOURCE: (Photo by Paula Tracy)

NH mountains enjoying a lot of new snow as year comes to close

Sledders excited about upcoming season

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Updated: 12:00 PM EST Dec 29, 2012

GILFORD, N.H. —

It wasn't more than a week ago ski-area groomers were moving piles of man-made snow into place at intersections, trying to patch together a network of trails to open in time for the holidays, with practically no natural snow in the woods.

Having an even harder time of it were the folks in the snowmobile clubs and the Nordic centers who were finishing up trail projects and just hoping for something to fall from the sky in the form of snow.

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What a difference a week makes.

After Christmas, worries that New England was again headed for another year like 2012 had vanished along with the brown lawns and green trees.

A storm which developed off the coast of New England and barreled inward, bringing with it moisture and cold air, combined to fall as a late Christmas gift, not only for ski area operators, snowmobile trail groomers and tourism officials but those of us whose emotional well-being is dependent on a white landscape at this time of year.

And it seems those of us who felt that way emptied the bench on Friday, got out of the house and office, found the toys and and got out and played in the snow.

On my way to Gunstock, Friday, where the report was the east-facing slopes got 15 inches, I stopped by the sledding hill on Route 11B in Gilford to watch the neighborhood kids on their sleds.

They were screaming their heads off and laughing and checking on each other to make sure they were not hurt as they hurtled through the foot of new snow, off little, hand-packed jumps. And then made the climb again to the top of the hill.

If they weren't getting snow down their boots they were getting it up their backs. It was so simple. Gravity, pure white pleasure. Something that does not come from a box or a store or even a snow gun.

The trees were laden in white, looking more like dribble castles in the sand at the beach, than the tall pines that they are. Houses looked like they were made out of gingerbread.

Though there were cars on the road, you could not hear them in the covered snow. All around, there was a quiet, peaceful glow.

At Gunstock, all the parking lots were filled and there was not a seat to be had in the lodge as kids and their parents dug through bags to find last winter's mittens and snowsuits.

Perhaps the stuff had not come out since 2010-11 because last winter was such a non-event.

Greg Goddard, general manager, agreed that it was possible there has been more natural snow this year -- largely from this past storm -- than there was all winter long in 2011-12.

When the winter begins with a freak snowstorm in October like it did last year, you know you are in for a bunch of warm troughs and rain. I have seen it before over the years. An early, early storm is the kiss of death.

This year, not so much.

November was cold enough to allow for snowmaking, but there were no major events. There have been a few rain storms which did not help much but were followed by cold, thankfully. And until it was really ready to be winter, it didn't pretend. That is a normal, healthy winter around here.

Tom Hawley has been following winter weather in these parts for more than two decades as a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Center in Gray, Maine.I have been talking to him over those years as I have reported on weather. He is seeing a very positive trend for those of us who like snow and cold.

Friday, he said the storm was a bit quirky with some places like Wentworth in Grafton County, only receiving two inches, while Diamond Pond in Northern Coos County picked up close to 18 inches.

"It was an elevation event," he said, with Vermont picking up the lion's share with foot and a half average in some places. The Northwest corner of Massachusetts and Orange County, Vt. were seeing 17-inch readings, but some valley areas of central New Hampshire received very little.

He was watching a monitor showing another storm forming out to sea as we spoke.

"We're talking about a storm that really hasn't formed yet," he said.

If it sticks to the predicted track, he said everyone should get between a few inches to 4 inches, beginning about noon on Satuday.

"But if it tracks inland 150 miles closer, we could be talking six to to 10 inches," he said.

While next week, midweek, it is due to get very cold, that is fine with me.

It will hold what we have on the trails and allow resorts to continue blowing much more snow at lower temps than they can at higher ones.

We are setting up for a great Martin Luther King holiday period in mid-January.

While those who shovel it and plow it might be grumbling, it's good times for a lot of outdoor enthusiasts in the days and weeks to come.